The conflict between national team captain Jon Dahl Tomasson and Hugo Larsson took a new turn on Sunday evening.
The national team management initially claimed in a press release that the 20-year-old was injured and therefore flew home. In a statement, the midfielder also confirmed that this was the case.
A strained relationship
During the day, unconfirmed reports from German football media emerged that Larsson was not injured and would train with his club team on Tuesday.
Now, TV4 Fotbollskanalen reveals that Larsson left the squad after a discussion at the team hotel on Saturday evening.
We talked, it ended with him deciding to leave, says national team manager Stefan Pettersson.
The wish from the national team's side was, according to TV4 Fotbollskanalen, that Larsson would leave the gathering.
It is clear that a strained relationship exists between the new national team captain and the player who is seen by many as one of Sweden's greatest talents. Hugo Larsson has played two half-games (against Denmark and Serbia) and did not get a minute against Azerbaijan on Thursday.
"JDT's" public statements about Larsson's shortcomings in his game did not go down well with the midfielder, which he emphasized during a press conference.
I told him that I would have liked it if it had stayed between us. Some things should stay within the family, he said.
Whereupon Larsson went hard in his criticism of the national team captain.
What national team consequences this will have for Larsson remains to be seen.
Dahl Tomasson does not want to comment on Larsson in Viaplay's match broadcast.
Conflicts we remember
Open conflicts between players and national team captains are rare in Swedish national team football. But there have been a few that have made an impact.
+ Pär Zetterberg did not get along with national team captain Tommy Söderberg. The midfielder was sidelined and when he did not get to play in the European Championship qualifier against Luxembourg in 1999, he got in his car, drove home to Brussels, and quit the national team.
+ Zlatan Ibrahimovic was so upset that he was suspended for a match for arriving too late to the hotel in 2006 that he boycotted the national team for half a year.
+ Pontus Jansson thought he was taking the blame for the losses against Croatia (1–2) and Portugal (0–3) in the Nations League in the autumn of 2020. The defender later chose to decline the national team.
